Meta’s European speeding ticket

Meta now tops the charts for the EU’s highest ever fine for violations of the bloc’s strict personal data privacy laws.

The Facebook parent company pushed Amazon from the top spot and is facing a staggering $1.3 billion fee over transferring data from users in the EU and the European Economic Area to servers in the United States, found to be in violation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

According to the European Data Protection Board, Meta has transferred personal user data in and out of the EU in a manner that’s not in compliance with the GDPR since July 2020.

“The EDPB found that Meta [Ireland’s] infringement is very serious since it concerns transfers that are systematic, repetitive, and continuous,” EDPB chair Andrea Jelinek said in a statement.

“Facebook has millions of users in Europe, so the volume of personal data transferred is massive. The unprecedented fine is a strong signal to organizations that serious infringements have far-reaching consequences.”

The ruling stems from an investigation into Meta’s data practices by the Irish Data Protection Commission. The watchdog group also ordered Meta to suspend transfers of data belonging to users in the EU and the European Economic Area, and bring them into compliance with the GDPR within six months.

Pushing back: Meta, for its part, said it believed the data transfers were in compliance with GDPR, and that it would appeal the ruling and the fine, which it called “unjustified and unnecessary,” and which it said “sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US.”

Meta said there would be “no immediate disruption to Facebook in Europe,” but was quick to point fingers elsewhere.

“No country has done more than the US to align with European rules via their latest reforms, while transfers continue largely unchallenged to countries such as China,” Meta said in that same statement.

“At a time where the internet is fracturing under pressure from authoritarian regimes, like-minded democracies should work together to promote and defend the idea of the open internet.”